


Stark and Quartermaster: Technical Masterminds

by therunawaypen



Series: 00Q Tumblr Prompt Fills [38]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Tony is Q's mentor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2017-12-31 15:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therunawaypen/pseuds/therunawaypen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years ago, Tony took a young computer genius under his wing. Now, Q is running his own show at MI6, but he still has time to call an old mentor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "Hello! Can you connect Stony and 00q? Whether Q is Tony’s partner to develop weapon and annihilate the misused or stolen stark weapon or something. Or maybe Q was (or still is) his protege? Thanks!" —anon

_“Sir, you have an incoming call.”_

“Tell them I’m not home.” Tony muttered, recalibrating one of the thrusters for the Mark 48. Damn thing didn’t seem to want to function properly.

_“I’m afraid they are bypassing my protocols, sir.”_

The genius swore. If it was Fury again, he was going to sic Dummy on him…

One of his computer screens flickered before revealing the image of a young man adjusting his glasses.

“ _Don’t tell me you were going to ignore my call, Mr. Stark.”_ He said, eyebrow raised and a small smirk on his face.

Tony chuckled, “Q! Why didn’t you just tell JARVIS it was you?” He set down the tools he was working with, “Tell me, how is the queen?” He asked, adopting a fake accent.

Q rolled his eyes, “ _She’s doing just fine. And how is the president?”_ Now Q was just being sarcastic.

“Ehh,” Tony wrinkled his nose, “I keep wanting to do a reboot of the whole damn government, but apparently that’s called a revolution.”

 _“Indeed it is”_ Q nodded, taking a sip from his mug.

“Tell me, what number is that?” Tony chuckled, “I assume you’re still chugging that tea like it was going out of style.”

“ _I’ll tell you how many cups of Earl Grey I’ve had if you tell me how many cups of coffee you’ve had.”_

Tony looked at his mug, half full of cold coffee, “Eh, fair enough. The number is probably the same.”

Q chuckled softly, running a hand through his hair, “ _So how is your band of merry men?”_

“Oh, that’s a new one. Though the only one of us who wears green is the enormous rage monster, and that’s his skin, not tights.” Tony smirked, “And isn’t Robin Hood in your back yard, oh Sheriff of Nottingham?”

“ _Oh haha.”_

“But seriously, it’s awesome. You know, saving the world, the adoring fans.” He chuckled, “You should think of getting your own together on your side of the pond.”

Q rolled his eyes, “ _No, we’re more for the covert approach._ ”

“That’s the problem with you Brits, no sense in excitement.”

“Tony?” Tony turned to see Steve opening the door to the lab. The blonde looked like he had just finished his morning run around Central Park (because running through Central Park is for rookies), and now had a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in one hand. “Did you stay up all night again?”

On the screen, Q raised an eyebrow, “ _Team member or should I refer to him as your team_ mate _?”_

Tony snorted, “You’re just jealous that I got Spangles here.”

“ _Hardly.”_

Steve sighed, setting the plate by Tony, “You’re being rude again, Tony. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Yes, mother.” Tony gave Q a look, “Q, this is Steve. Steve, this is Q. He’s kinda like a British, more reserved and less conspicuous version of me.”

The blonde shook his head, “So he’s absolutely nothing like you.” He chuckled, looking at the screen, “Nice to meet you, Q.”

 _“And you, Mr. Rogers.”_ Q nodded, “ _Tony has told me all about you and your team. Wonderful work, if I must say, if a bit…over the top.”_

“Yeah, well dealing with aliens can do that.” Steve nodded, “So how do you know Tony?”

Tony interrupted, “I caught him trying to hack into the Stark server some years ago, back when his name wasn’t Q, and I thought he had potential. That and I had nothing better to do, so I mentored him on the finer aspects of computer engineering.”

Steve laughed, “So he’s your protégé.”

 _“Precisely.”_ Q chuckled, “ _And I’d like to think I’ve done quite well for myself.”_

“Oh yeah, Quartermaster of MI6.” Tony nodded, before stage whispering to Steve, “But we’re not supposed to know that.”

On Q’s screen, another man stepped into the room, adjusting the cuffs of his suit jacket,“ _Who are you talking to, Q? Our dinner reservations are in 20 minutes.”_

Tony grinned, “Well what do you know? Q, why didn’t you tell me you were getting laid?”

Q winced, “ _Must you be so blunt?”_

“Yes, as a matter a fact, I do.”Tony smirked, “So who’s the stud in the suit.”

 _“This stud can hear you quite fine._ ” The man looked mildly annoyed, “ _And the name is Bond, James Bond.”_

Tony blinked, “Why do I have the sudden urge for a martini now?”

Steve rolled his eyes, “It’s nice to meet you, James. I apologize for Tony.”

“ _He used to mentor me with my computer work.”_ Q quickly explained to James.

“Used to? Didn’t you call me last week?”

“ _As nice as this has been, Q and I really must be going.”_ James nodded.

Q smiled, “ _Talk to you later, Tony. Try not to blow up anything, alright?”_

“No promises.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So someone requested more action...

It was a complete disaster.

“Come in, 006! Damn it Alec, answer me!” Q shouted into his microphone. Q branch had already lost visual on Alex as he tried to infiltrate a weapon smuggling ring.

It was a big assignment: someone was supplying weapons of mass destruction (they actually did have proof of this) to several known enemies of the country. It had been 006’s job to find out who these people were, where they were getting the weapons, and where the weapons were now. The job was of such importance that M had decided to supervise the sting.

But now the static that was permeating the speakers of Q branch was more than Q could stand. “Someone get a trace on 006!” M shouted, looking cross.

Fingers were typing as fast as they could, but so far, there was no sign that they were any closer to locating the 00 than when they first started.

“Damn it Alec, come back to us…” Q paced in front of the large screen, “Give us something…anything.”

Like an answer to prayer, there was a blip on the screen.

“Incoming message.” One of the minions called out.

Q didn’t answer the minion, reading the short message on the screen

_Cover blown._

_Capture imminent._

_Found code. Attached._

That was it. Even the small blip that had originated from 006’s communication had gone dead. The phone had no doubt been destroyed when Alec had been captured.

Alec had been captured.

“Get to work decrypting that code, Q.” M nodded, pointing to the long stream of encrypted cipher, “We needed this done yesterday.”

* * *

 

When James went to check on Q, he had been told that the Quartermaster had been working on Alec’s code for over 30 hours. He was bracing himself for the worst.

Seeing Q with his head on his desk, sobbing in desperation, was definitely a new low for him.

“Q?” James placed a hand on the Quartermaster’s shoulder, pulling him upright, “Tell me what’s wrong.” He wasn’t stupid enough to ask if Q was alright. None of them were, not with Alec captured (or worse).

“I can’t do it, James.”

James blinked, “What?”

“I can’t break the code.” Q hung his head in defeat, “I’ve tried everything I can think of. I can’t grasp it!”

Well that wasn’t good, “I’m sure you’ll think of it Q. You’re the best we have.”

“That’s just it, James!” Q shook his head, “If I’m the best we have, and _I_ can’t even _begin_ to understand it.”

“Well someone must understand it.” James sighed, trying to be encouraging.

Q stopped, “What did you say?”

“I said someone must understand it enough to make all that code, so—”

But Q was no longer listening to James. He was already running out of his office, grabbing his phone as he did so.

* * *

 

“You _what?_ ” M was not happy, judging by the vein getting ready to burst from his forehead. Granted, it was a very rare occasion that the head of MI6 was in a good mood, but now he seemed especially irritable.

Q cleared his throat, trying to stand tall, “I can’t decipher the code.”

Q branch was oddly quiet, not that James blamed them all that much. It wasn’t every day that Q admitted that something was beyond his knowledge. Actually, it was a first really.

“So, what? You’re just going to give up?” M raised an eyebrow, “You’re just going to let this smuggling ring get away with killing 006?”

“I never said that, sir!” Q frowned, “I called a friend…”

M’s jaw dropped, “You called a _friend_ regarding top secret information?”

After a deep breath, Q nodded, “Yes sir. I called my old mentor.”

That got everyone’s attention. Q had a mentor? That was news to everyone.

Even M, apparently, “Mentor? Who the hell—”

The rest of M’s sentence, however, was cut off by the sound of music erupting from the Q branch speakers. Several of the minions had covered their ears at the sheer volume of the music. Guitar riffs and classic rock and roll were not everyone’s taste.

Q bit back a groan. Damnit all…

“What the hell is going on!?” M shouted over the noise.

“See, that’s what I need to tell you sir!” Q replied, “My mentor is—”

That was when the doors of Q branch opened and one overly confident Tony Stark strolled in. James, despite the situation, was slightly amused. The other man had at least dressed professionally, even if his suit jacket was thrown casually over one shoulder and he was wearing dark sunglasses. That, in addition to the glass of what looked like scotch in his free hand, and James was starting to like Q’s mentor.

The billionaire smirked, taking a sip of his scotch, “We getting this party started or what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, poor Alec! And Tony sure knows how to start a party! What should happen next?


	3. Chapter 3

For a moment, everyone in Q Branch was frozen, unsure what to do at the sight of Tony Stark waltzing into the room.

Then M turned to Q, “Tell me this is a joke, Q.” He hissed, jaw clenched.

“While I did manage to teach Q a lot.” Stark smirked, walking up to Q’s desk, “He never did manage to pick up my sense of humor.”

By now the minions were whispering to each other. James could hear hushed questions of “Q called Iron Man?” and “ _That’s_ Q’s mentor?” over the sounds of the rock music playing in Q Branch.

Q cleared his throat, “Tony, maybe if you turned down the music…”

But Stark wasn’t listening to Q, he was already seated at Q’s desk, typing away at his computer, “You know, Q, you really should replace these computers.” He shook his head, taking a sip of his scotch, “I’ve got a new line coming out, I’m sure you’d enjoy them more than the fossils you have here—”

“Our computers are fine, Tony.” Q rubbed his temples.

“Mm, I doubt it. It took me, what, half a minute to hack into your servers?” Tony raised an eyebrow, “And that’s after having three of these.” He raised his glass of scotch.

Judging by the color M’s face was turning; James was beginning to wonder how long it would take for there to be a meltdown.

Q must have noticed it too, as he hurried to Stark’s side, “Tony, I called you to help us break this code and hopefully rescue our agent. Could you _please_ —”

Stark clicked a few keys on the keyboard, which in turn revealed several files on every screen in Q Branch.

“Really Q?” Stark raised an eyebrow, “You give me a code to break and you honestly think I was going to _wait?_ ” He smirked, “I got bored on the flight over and Steve was hogging all the Sudoku puzzles.”

James could see a blush creeping on Q’s face, and he could only imagine the blow the Quartermaster was suffering to his ego. Being shown up in front of all his peers. Poor Q. “ _Steve?”_ Q hissed, lowering his voice, “ _You brought your boyfriend with you?”_

M had finally had enough, “Mr. Stark, are you telling me that you have cracked the information given to you?”

Stark finished his drink, “And I thought American politicians were slow.” He stood, “To put it plainly, yes. I cracked your little puzzle. Then I did you one better.”

“Oh really, Mr. Stark?” M crossed his arms.

“Is that a challenge or an actual question?” Stark chuckled, bringing up a map on Q Branch’s large screen, “Well let’s just say that we got people handling retrieving your agent.” He looked at Q, “ _That’s_ why I brought Steve, Q-ball.”

James raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, you want to run that one by me again?”

Q sighed, bowing his head, “Tony sent the Avengers out to rescue Alec… _what_ made you think that was a good idea?” he groaned.

Tony shrugged, “The team was bored, there haven’t been alien invasions lately, so when I mentioned that there was an MI6 operative in distress, Steve was all ready to call for the Avengers to assemble. Plus, Thor was in town and we thought we could show him more of the planet. Which reminds me…” he pulled his phone from his pocket, dialing a number, “I should check on how they’re doing…”

After a moment, one of the other screens in Q Branch opened with a video link.

 _“Did you need something, Tony?_ ” Steve Rogers asked, face flushed from obvious combat. How he was taking a video call was anyone’s guess.

“Just wanted to see how you were doing, Cap.” Tony smirked, leaning back in Q’s chair, “Things going well?”

Steve rolled his eyes, “ _We’re on a rescue mission that has turned into dismantling a weapons ring, Tony. How do you_ think _it’s going?”_

“Fun.” Tony nodded, “More fun than what I’m doing right now.”

 _“What you’re doing right now is being a smartass.”_ Steve commented. There was a moment when Steve left the screen and, judging by the grunts and gunshots that were ringing out, James could guess what the other man was doing. When he returned to the screen, there was blood on Steve’s face, “ _Tony, if you’re not going to be helpful, pass the phone to your friend.”_

Q wasted no time in snatching the videophone from Tony, “Captain Rogers?”

 _“Steve, please.”_ The blond man shook his head, “ _Look, we’ve almost got the area secure, if you could give my your agent’s name and maybe a picture, we can start looking for him. Unless he actually goes by the name 006, which considering the fact you go by Q, wouldn’t surprise me.”_

“His name is Alec.” Q shook his head, typing at his computer, “His picture should be coming to you shortly.”

Steve nodded before turning his head, “ _Look’s like Thor found your man…”_

In the background,  voices could be heard.

 _“Be at ease, Warrior Six! You are among friends!”_ Came a booming voice.

Then came a familiar voice. _“Put me the fuck down!”_ Alec all but screeched, _“I can fuckin’ walk!”_

Q breathed out a sigh of relief. Well, at least Alec was alright. The rest of MI6…maybe not.

Not with Tony involved.


End file.
